Cardboard box with a carrying handle



April 25, 1961 G. E. THIBAULT CARDBOARD BOX WITH A CARRYING HANDLE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 31, 1958 INVENTOR. Ge Urge E. T/hIbau/t' ATTORNEYS.

April 25, 1961 G. E. THIBAULT 2,931,458

CARDBOARD BOX WITH A CARRYING HANDLE Filed Dec. 51, 19 58 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. G rge E. T/Zz'b ale/f I /Qw k622i ATTORNEYS- nited Sttes CARDBOARD BOX WITHA CARRYING HANDLE George E. Thibault, Somerset, Mass., assignor to Charles W. 'Stampler, doing business as :Slater Paper Box, Fall River, Mass.

Filed Dec. 31,1958, Ser. No. 784,235

2 Claims. (Cl. 229-52) structure which may simultaneously serve as a lock for the box.

A still further object of the inventionis to provide a minimum number of slits through the .walls of the cardboard box andto attach the handle to thebox in a fashion whereby pulling on the handle will nottend to tear the box at the slits thereof.

A more specificobject of the invention is to provide a handle structure which will be formed in a fashion to be attached to the wall of the box and fashioned so as to allow sufficient material to extend the handle into carrying position.

With these and other objects in view, the invention. consists of certain novel features of construction aswill. be more fully described and particularly pointed. out in. the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure l is a perspective view of the completely assembled box.

Figure 2 is a top plan View of the box blank and handle member, the box blank having been folded once.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the box of Figure l in partly opened condition.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary perspective of the handle section of the box in a partial stage of closure.

Figure 5 is a sectional view taken on lines 55 of Figure 3.

Figure 6 is a sectional view taken on lines 6--6 of Figure 1.

Figure 7 is a plan view of the handle in blank form, the handle being shown on an enlarged scale.

Figure 8 is an enlarged perspective view of the section of the box to which the handle is attached; and

Figures 9 and 10 are perspective views of the same section of the box depicted in Figure 8 showing successive stages of assembling the handle to the box.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings and to Figures 2 and 3 specifically, there is shown the usual box which has the conventional top Wall 10 with side flaps 11, 11' and an outer front wall 12 having tabs 13, 13' that may be adhesively secured or fastened in some other suitable manner to the side flaps 11, 11' respectively. The box is also provided with the usual bottom wall 14 which has attached thereto side flaps 15, 15' and an inner front wall 16 which has two end tabs attached thereto 17 and 17' said tabs being glued or otherwise aflixed to the side flaps 15, 15' respectively. The box thus constituted is adapted so that the bottom section will nest within the top section, the two parts swinging about a fold line 18 which is actually one edge of the back wall 19.

ate

The handle 20 which is shown in blank form in Figure 7 preferably comprises a plurality of sheets of laminated material which will give the handle sufficient rigidity to insert it into proper position in the box. Basically, the handle consists of a shank portion 21 and two T-shaped end portions 22, 22, and while the extreme ends of these portions are shown as being radiused, this shape is not critical for the endsmay be either square or pointed. To limit the amount of insertion of the end of .the handle into the receiving slots the cross bar of the T forms in effect ears 23,23. The handle blank as shown in Figure 7 is further formed before it is associated with the inner front wall of the carton by folding the shank 21 thereof as at 24, 24' and then imparting a reverse bend to the shank adjacent the ears 23, 23' (see Fig. 9).

Slits 25 and 26 are provided in the inner front wall section 16 to permit interconnection of the handle. 29 with the box. These two slits 25 and 26 are cut in a general U-shape and are adapted to be bent inwardly along a fold line which is shown by the dotted lines 27, 27. Thus, a bendable tab 28, 28' is defined by these two slit-cut portions.

The handle which has been described above in its com pletely folded condition is then ready for insertion into the region which is opened by the bending of the flaps 28, 28'. Referring again to Figure 9, the handle 20 has been oriented with the end portions 22, 22 extends ing somewhat perpendicular to the shank portion 21 in which position the handle structure may be forced through the opening provided by the flaps 28, 28'. After the ears 23, 23' have abutted the inner front wall 16,

a suitable adhesive may be applied to the surface or" the end portions 22, 22 which are then forced against .the underside of theinner front wallto be secured thereto as shown in Figure 5. fastening tabs 22, 22' to the inner front wall may be utilized but an adhesive is preferred as it makes a neat looking job with no protrusions through the inner front wall and is a much stronger joint. It will be noticed by referring particularly to Figure 5 that in the assembled condition the shank portion 21 of the handle lies above the top of the inner front wall by an amount equal to twice the thickness of the shank portion 21. This comes about because of the folded portion adjacent the end of the shank and therefore a finger-space 29 is effectively formed for a purpose which will hereinafter appear.

Slits 30, 31 and 32 are provided in the outer front wall to permit interconnection of the handle 20 and the carton. The slit 3! is a longitudinal slit which is intersected by angularly disposed slits 31 and 32. This arrangement defines two end tabs 33, 34 which may be punched out, the two tabs being adapted to bend along lines 35, 36 respectively (see Fig. 3).

In assembling the structure just described, the successive steps are shown in Figures 3 and 4 with the completed structure shown in Fig. l. The first step is to telescope the two sections of the box so that the shank portion 21 of the handle will pass inside of the outer front wall 12. Since the shank 21 of the handle is raised above the top of the inner front wall 16, there will be a tendency for the handle to slightly arch the longitudinal area 37 between the slit 30 and the edge of the outer front wall 12. The remaining area of the outer front wall 12 including the flap" defined by slits 30, 31 and 32 maintains its planal extent so that the edge of the flap defined by the slit 30 will tend to pass into the finger-space 29. At this point the tabs 33 and 34 are pushed outwardly and the two sections of the box may then be completely telescoped. The shank portion Patented Apr. 25, 1961 Itis obvious other means of 1 21 of the handle may then be grasped and pulled outwardly, the folded area at the end thereof expanding so that the structure shown in Figures 1 and 6 results therefrom. With the handle in the extended position the two sections of the box are automatically locked together since the handle abuts the slit 30 in the outer front wall.

Effectively, therefore, area 37 becomes a locking strip. It is apparent therefore that no auxiliary locking means or taping of the box is necessary although generally for security reasons department stores prefer to apply tape between the two sections of the box to prevent adding to the purchased contents thereof.

It is believed that one can readily see that there is provided here a box which can be quickly and conveniently assembled and one which is extremely simple and inexpensive in construction. The box forming the subject matter of this invention has been disclosed in the drawings as being particularly adapted for carrying articles'of wearing apparel but it is readily apparent that the principle disclosed herein may be adapted to other containers for other uses without departingfrorn the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. In a paper box, the combination of hinged top and bottom sections which are adapted to be telescoped one into the other, a handle member having a shank portion and T-shaped ends, spaced slots disposed substantially centrally widthwise in the inner front wall of the box to receive and secure the ends of said handle, a portion of said ends lying on the inner front wall, the shank of said handle being reversely bent upon itself adjacent each of the T-shaped ends, a longitudinally extending slit in the outer front wall of said box, and a pair of angularly extending slits intersecting said longitudinal slit in said outer front wall adjacent the ends thereof to define a longitudinal locking strip in said outer front wall and a flap, said flap extending beneath the shank portion of said handle, one edge of the locking strip abutting an edge of the handle, the shank por- 4 tion of said handle being adapted to be extended by unfolding the folded end section thereof whereby the handle member in such carrying position will retain the two telescoping sections of the box in a closed relation.

2. In a paper box, the combination of hinged top and bottom sections which are adapted to be telescoped one into the other, a handle member having a shank portion and T-shaped ends, the cross-bar of the T being inwardly of the end portion, spaced slots disposed substantially centrally widthwise in the inner front wall of the box to receive the end portions of said handle, said end portions passing through said slots and secured to the inner front wall, the shank of said handle being reversely bent upon itself adjacent the cross-bar of each of said U-shaped ends to form a finger space between the shank portion thereof and the inner front wall, a longitudinally extending slit in the outer front wall of said box, said slit being offset toward the free edge of said outer front wall, and a pair of angularly extending slits intersecting said longitudinal slit in said outer front wall adjacent the ends thereof to define a longitudinal locking strip in said outer front wall and a flap, said flap extending beneath the shank portion of said handle, one edge of the locking strip abutting an edge of the handle, the shank portion of said handle being adapted to be extended by unfolding the folded end section thereof whereby the handle member in such carrying position will retain the two telescoping sections of the box in a closed relation.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,153,136 Rosenfeld Sept. 7, 1915 2,233,799 Seifer et a1. Mar. 4, 1941 2,250,010 Cohn July 22, 1941 2,598,945 Taylor June 3, 1952 2,645,407 Bergstein July 14, 1953 2,828,064- Struble Mar. 25, 1958 

